GitHub has rolled out a no-cost version of its AI-powered coding assistant, GitHub Copilot Free, designed for use within Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code.

Unveiled on December 18, this free tier offers developers up to 2,000 code completions and 50 chat interactions each month. To utilize the service, users need to sign in with an existing GitHub account or create a new one. They can select between two powerful AI models: Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI’s GPT-4o. The assistant supports tasks such as debugging, answering programming questions, and searching through multiple files. Additionally, it enables access to third-party agents or the creation of custom extensions.

GitHub Copilot Free is seamlessly integrated into Visual Studio Code. Developers can activate it by clicking the Copilot icon in the top menu and selecting the option to “Sign in to use Copilot for Free.” This action opens a browser for GitHub authentication, linking their account to VS Code. Once connected, GitHub Copilot is installed automatically.

The introduction of this free option comes as GitHub celebrates surpassing 150 million developers on its platform, reflecting the company’s commitment to empowering a growing global community of programmers.